Hammer and Frammer not opening/extending as much as previously

[Thawman]

Hi all,

Hoping someone out there can tell me what is going on with my Hammer and Frammer, and possibly my Ricordea (maybe the same issue). Oddly, my gold torch, seems way more happy these days.

Tank transfer from 40g to 100g 6 months ago, everything has been doing well until this last couple weeks.

As you can see in the pictures the Hammer and Frammer are not opening as much as usual, appear healthy otherwise. The Hammer is typically about 3 times that size and the Frammer I typically can't see where the individual heads are. Additionally the Ricordea appear to be reaching for light.

Lighting: I increased the lighting about 2 months ago by about 10% due to the deeper tank (and to align more with BRS recommended intensity), prior to increasing the lighting I had no issues with the Ricordea.
-2x Hydra 26 setup according to BRS recommendation, running Pirates of the Caribbean

Chemistry: I've had phosphate issues for about a month, can't seem to get it up (Could this be the issue?). I've stopped skimming to no avail. Trying to achieve Redfield's ratio....failing miserably.
-Ammonia 0
-Nitrite 0
-Nitrate 14.6
-Phosphate 0
-Alk 8.65 (DOS/Trident)
-Ca 441 (DOS/Trident)
-Mg 1442 (Trident)
-Salinity 1.026
-Temp 77.7 (Apex)

Water Changes: Weekly 10%, have skipped one week, and only did a 5% a second week to try to increase phosphate, again to no avail. using AquaVitro Salinity

Feeding: Feed fish twice daily (1.2ml mixture of Spriulina brine and mysis with garlic and vitamins added, morning and night). Feed Corals a mix of:
-Even Days: AB+ (10ml), Phytochrome (5ml) and Goniopower
-Odd days: AB+ (10ml), Phytochrome (5ml) and Min S (0.4ml)

Dosing: Adding iodine intermittently after an ICP test indicated it was low. Also was dosing Vibrant for 2 months for a horrific bubble algae issue, last dose was 1 month ago.

Going to do another ICP test once stores are open later in the week, other than what I've tried, I'm at a complete loss.

Thank you very much for your time!!!

 

[Nick Steele]

How old are the lights?

Phosphate might be an issue with that nitrate level have you tried dosing phosphate at all?

 

[Thawman]

How old are the lights?

Phosphate might be an issue with that nitrate level have you tried dosing phosphate at all?

Thanks for the reply.

Lights are 2-3 years old.

Meant to mention that my next step is to dose Phosphate, have none on hand, so will have to wait until the stores are open.

 

[Nick Steele]

Neo phos is a good starting point but over time gets expensive specially for a 100g tank. Look into buying trisodium phosphate and make your own mixture cost like $15.

 

[Thawman]

Neo phos is a good starting point but over time gets expensive specially for a 100g tank. Look into buying trisodium phosphate and make your own mixture cost like $15.

Thank you for the info, I'll look into the trisodium phosphate!

 

[fish farmer]

I'm thinking change...like the low phosphates and possibly increased lighting.

My profile pic is a frammer I grew from a tiny pinky sized frag in very dirty water, nitrates were 30 and phos was 1ppm. It got used to those conditions and grew like a weed. I think in my pic it had a dozen heads. A couple months after that pic was taken while I had been bringing my nutrients down to "acceptable' reef tank levels, the heads didn't expand as full. You could see the skeleton. It still grows though, just not as fluffy.